There鈥檚 a new twist in the ongoing saga to clean up the Reflecting Pool. Some of the new “American Flag Blue” paint used to coat the bottom appears to be peeling away.
The bottom of the pool was painted at the direction of President Donald Trump and refilled with water about two weeks ago. Since then, algae that blooms in the Reflecting Pool every summer returned, making the pool green.
Crews have been scrubbing the algae out and using nanobubble ozone technology to try and clean the pool. Workers were recently seen dumping hydrogen peroxide in the water.
Thursday, some of the blue paint started lifting from the bottom. About half-way down the south side of the Reflecting Pool, a 2- to 3-foot section appeared to be peeling away near the pool’s edge. As the wind blew, the chunk rose above the water, ripping away from the bottom just a little bit more.
Derek Amspaugh visiting D.C. from Columbus, Ohio, stopped to take a look.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely concerning, yeah; you鈥檙e spending $11 million, you鈥檇 like to see quality work being done.鈥�
The Trump administration has said the cost of the renovation is around $14 million.
John Ritter, who lives in Northern Virginia, suggested the issue could be emblematic of the Trump administration.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit of a metaphor, I think, for some of the other projects they are trying to do.鈥�
It鈥檚 unclear whether the hydrogen peroxide, the scrubbing of the algae or the nanobubble technology being used has anything to do with the peeling.
As of Thursday afternoon, about a third of the pool looked clean and blue 鈥� the rest was the algae green color usually seen in the summer.
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